My first contact

I made my first contact on the local receiver yesterday. I started monitoring the repeater on my way to work and spoke with Bob, W1URV from a town about 5 miles away. We could only chat briefly, because I lost the repeater with my stock rubber duck antenna. I need to order a magnetic mount antenna for my car next so I get decent range. I have read that the stock antenna has a -3db gain. Most car antennas I looked at have a +1.5db gain.

I also want to get an antenna for my house. I have been looking at J pole antennas which can be placed at the top of a telescoping pole. I need to figure out where to place the antenna at home to minimize the amount of coax cable. I understand that coax cable goes for about $1 per foot.

My next step is to learn how to use the USB cable and software to program a number of local repeaters on my HT. I also need to learn how to use the scan function as well as seeing how much traffic is on the 70 cm band.